InFocus IN78 review

It's expensive - is it worth the price premium?

Our Verdict

Its performance isn't flawless, but it's certainly better than you're likely to get elsewhere at this price

For

Excellent DarkChip3 performance

Easy to set up

Against

Motion not always perfectly crisp

Slightly noisy at times

The IN78 is strikingly attractive in a high gloss black-base finish wrapped around a curvaceous body. The design's highly practical too, as the main body is set atop a tilting, rotating foot mount that should prove helpful during set up.

Connections are excellent, especially in the provision of two digital video inputs: one standard HDMI, and one multi-purpose M1-DA affair capable of taking all manner of sources, including PC and component video as well as digital video. An HDMI-to- M1-DA adapter is provided.

The IN78 is quick to set up, thanks to its foot mount, a decent degree of zoom, and flexible tidy onscreen menus. Beneath the hood is a DarkChip3 DLP chipset - a relatively new, high-spec affair that to date has only appeared on projectors well over £3,000. Yet the IN78 costs just £2,000.

Advantages of the DarkChip3 system include better black levels (the IN78's claimed contrast ratio is 3500:1 vs the DarkChip2 IN76's 3000:1), and faster response times.

Also impressive for a projector of this class is the facility to be calibrated by an Imaging Science Foundation (ISF) professional. Or you can fine-tune the colour gamut and black level settings yourself via PC software. Image crunching comes via Pixelwork's highly regarded 10-bit DNX system.

The IN78's images can be considered the best in its class. Black levels are terrific, delivering rich, deep blacks largely free of green dot noise; shadows are filled with subtle detailing.

What's more, because it delivers its profound black levels without the brightness compromises found with many 'auto-iris' LCD models, the IN78's dark scenes enjoy exceptional dynamism.

Colours are natural yet enjoyably vibrant. Just the job for delivering the full impact of Kong's dawn showdown on the Empire State Building.

The IN78's scaling engine also makes standard definition sources look great. But arguably the clearest indication of its prowess is that it even reveals a sense of the tiny difference in quality (mostly focused around motion clarity and colour solidity) between 1080i and 1080p.

If you're looking for flaws, this projector runs a touch noisily sometimes, and while motion looks relatively good, it's not as crisp as the latest SXRD and D-ILA projectors from Sony and JVC respectively. But these projectors cost a minimum of £1,500 more than the IN78.

Despite its price tag, InFocus' IN78 is still a great value projector with a performance that wouldn't be out of place on kit costing twice as much.